Murad Qureshi, London Assembly Member (Labour) suggested in his blog a pier for Brentford, an article we thought worth republishing below. Supportive voices are encouraging him on his blog, with familiar names to us.

At last week's London Waterways Commission (LWC), we had a presentation from Transport for London on their recently launched River Action Plan, to double passenger numbers along the Thames by 2020.

It was welcomed by all, yet many of the Commissioners agreed it should be called the “Passenger” River Action Plan because it fails to mention the role of freight along the Thames.  The emphasis is clearly on river passengers alone.  By highlighting this, The LWC Commissioners hope to usefully address these concerns.

Nonetheless, I found the river tube plan very interesting, in particular all the new piers being suggested, essentially by developers of waterside developments.  In the West we have Plantation Wharf and Battersea Power Station while in the East we have Barking & Gallions Reach.

Given the emphasis on Piers as destinations in the action plan, it occurs to me that one place that has been neglected is Brentford in the West.  It is the point at which the river Brent and the canals meet the Thames and it’s envisaged that passenger boats will go past it on their way to to Richmond and Kingston, so why can’t Brentford have a Pier as well.  Famously it is claimed that Julius Caesar landed there when he came over to Londinium during his reign  in 54 BC for the second invasion of Britannia as Brentford is a likely site of a battle recorded between Julius Cæsar and the local king, Cassivellaunus

So a Pier at Brentford on the Thames called “Julius Caesar Pier”?  Has a ring to it and is something l should possibly pursue with the Mayor?

Muard Qureshi, AM

 

March 31, 2013